Feitian as an element of the upper register in Mogao Caves 220 and 103: On the visual order of Tang cave ensembles

Abstract

This article examines the role of feitian (celestial beings of the Buddhist pantheon) in the organisation of the upper register in two Tang-period Mogao caves: Cave 220 of the Early Tang and Cave 103 of the High Tang. Dunhuang art is understood here not as a mere collection of separate murals and sculptures but as an integrated Buddhist cave ensemble in which architecture, painting, sculpture, ornament, and the viewer’s route of perception form a single visual system. Feitian are treated as celestial beings and active participants in Buddhist pictorial space: they fly, dance, play music, scatter flowers, and make offerings to the Buddha. In the Mogao caves, these figures appear on ceilings, above niches, and in the upper zones of wall paintings, so their function cannot be reduced to decoration. The purpose of the article is to show how feitian participate in constructing the visual order of a specific cave ensemble. The study is based on published research on Dunhuang murals, spatial experience in Mogao, and the iconography of the Vimalakirti Sutra, together with a visual comparison of the two cave compositions. The analysis follows four parameters: the position of the figures within the cave, the character of movement, their relation to the entrance and niche, and their role in shaping the upper register as a whole. The comparison demonstrates that in Cave 220 the feitian form a distributed upper belt connecting the southern, northern, and western zones and supporting the polycentric structure of the Early Tang ensemble. In Cave 103, their role becomes more localized: the figures emphasize the upper part of the north wall and are subordinated to the more concentrated visual order of the High Tang. Feitian thus appear not as a secondary ornamental motif but as an indicator of changing spatial logic in Dunhuang mural painting.